skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Thursday, December 26, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Advocates urge broader clemency despite Biden's death row commutes; Bald eagle officially becomes national bird, a conservation success; Hispanic pastors across TX, U.S. wanted for leadership network; When bycatch is on the menu.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The authors of Project 2025 say they'll carry out a hard-right agenda, voting rights advocates raise alarm over Trump's pick to lead the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, and conservatives aim to cut federal funding for public broadcasting.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

From the unprecedented election season to the latest environmental news, the Yonder Report looks back at stories that topped our weekly 2024 newscasts.

Quality Assurance Workers at MD-Based ZeniMax Vote to Unionize

play audio
Play

Monday, January 9, 2023   

Employees at Microsoft's ZeniMax Online Studios have voted to form a union and begin collective bargaining with the tech giant.

The ZeniMax quality assurance workers began organizing months ago and voted to form a union in December. The union is affiliated with the Communications Workers of America and Microsoft has recognized it.

ZeniMax is a video-game production company based in Rockville, with titles such as Elder Scrolls and Fallout.

James Riffle, associate quality assurance tester for Elder Scrolls Online, said the union hopes to address a number of problems.

"A lot of us are overworked and kind of feel like our passion is being used against us," Riffle explained. "We've either seen firsthand or heard stories about working overtime hours and still having to work another job to afford rent or gas. We've seen unexplained discrepancies in pay before, between people in the same position. I've seen people being forced to do work above their pay grade, without proper compensation."

It will be Microsoft's first union negotiation in the United States. The ZeniMax vote follows successful unionization efforts of tech workers at Activision, Alphabet and Apple via the Communications Workers of America's Campaign to Organize Digital Employees.

The ZeniMax union includes all quality assurance workers at the various ZeniMax studio locations in America, including its subsidiaries. While quality assurance workers spend time playing the video games the company produces, Riffle said the job has its challenges.

"While we do love what we do, people don't know how painstakingly monotonous it can be," Riffle pointed out. "We can spend hours trying to reproduce an issue that players find in a game with little to no information. So we have what people think is a dream job, but in reality, that dream is manipulated to underpay you."

The ZeniMax workers are now the largest group of quality assurance testers to win union representation at any U.S. video game studio.

Disclosure: Communications Workers of America contributes to our fund for reporting on Human Rights/Racial Justice, and Livable Wages/Working Families. If you would like to help support news in the public interest, click here.


get more stories like this via email
more stories
A 2023 report from Michigan Traffic Crash Facts showed 62 snowmobiles were involved in crashes on public roadways, resulting in two fatalities and 41 injuries. (gentho/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Winter conditions across Michigan are fickle and The Michigan Department of Natural Resources is urging everyone to prioritize safety while enjoying t…


Environment

play sound

A diverse group of Southwest Wisconsin farmers are using federally funded conservation programs to help improve their farms' soil health and resilienc…

Social Issues

play sound

Mainers are encouraged to be on the lookout for increasingly sophisticated scams during the holiday season. Fake emails appearing to be from …


According to the March of Dimes, 15.4% of Wyoming women did not have a birthing hospital within 30 minutes of home last year, compared to a U.S. average of 9.7%. (MANUEL/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Evanston Regional Hospital is discontinuing its labor and delivery services next week, citing a "steady decline of demand." It is the fourth Wyoming …

Environment

play sound

By Leilani Marie Labong for FoodPrint.Broadcast version by Suzanne Potter for California News Service reporting for the FoodPrint-Public News Service …

Education Data reported there are 507,200 student loan borrowers in Connecticut, with an average debt amount of $36,672. (Adobe Stock)

play sound

Connecticut is launching its Student Loan Reimbursement Program Jan. 1. The program was created through legislation passed by the state's General …

Social Issues

play sound

This week, President Joe Biden commuted the sentences of 37 people with federal death row convictions to life sentences without parole. Groups …

Health and Wellness

play sound

A new federal rule aims to close a loophole allowing coal companies to walk away from their obligations to pay disability benefits and health insuranc…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021